Urgent Russia spy alert issued as shock cargo plane plot exposed

Russian spies carried out "test runs" to blow up cargo planes as part of an "escalating shadow war against the West", a shocking report has revealed.

Moscow's military intelligence agency, the GRU, planted electric massage machines laced with a "magnesium-based flammable substance" on aircrafts, the highly respected International Institute for Strategic Studies said.

These parcels, which exploded in warehouses in Birmingham, Leipzig in Germany and near Warsaw in Poland, are believed to be "test runs for potential future attacks against cargo aircraft", researchers said.

Researchers warned that an apparent "lull" in sabotage plots in the first half of this year - following a sharp increase in 2024 - could be down to Vladimir Putin's spies "regrouping their networks" and "recalibrating" their tactics.

And the GRU - which is using criminal gangs to carry out its sabotage, arson and vandalism conspiracies - is targeting students and Russians living in Europe to rebuild its own networks of undetected intelligence officers.

The IISS revealed: "What began as a campaign to destabilise Ukraine has evolved into a broader, escalating 'shadow war' against the West.

"Russian sabotage operations in Europe have accelerated, increasing in both the frequency and boldness of physical attacks.

"It is highly likely that, in July 2024, the GRU attempted to target cargo planes by implanting a magnesium-based flammable substance in electric massagers.

"These devices exploded at DHL logistics hubs in Germany, Poland and the UK and were test runs for potential future attacks against cargo aircraft.

"About 40 arson plots have been linked to Russia in Germany and Poland, including the destruction of the Warsaw shopping centre.

"In May 2024, a major fire broke out in Berlin at a Diehl Group factory, which produces IRIS-T surface-to-air missiles used in Ukraine.

"Russia has also been linked to an explosion at a warehouse in Spain storing communications equipment for Ukraine."

Russia's GRU intelligence agency has shifted its tactics after the expulsion of diplomats in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning in 2018 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

They are no longer able to freely use Moscow's embassy in Kensington as a base, protected by diplomatic immunity.

Instead they are more reliant than ever on hiring criminals to carry out their dirty work.

The IISS revealed: "Russian handlers post ads in employment forums, especially on the Dubai-based social networking app Telegram, targeting Eastern European immigrant communities.

"Russian intelligence officers then assign tasks ranging from posting pro-Russian propaganda posters or petty vandalism to ECI [European Critical Infrastructure] sabotage.

"The GRU has also been rebuilding capacity by targeting, among others, foreign students and elements within the Russian exile community.

"This gig economy approach to sabotage has been successful because vulnerabilities associated with ECI require relatively unsophisticated sabotage efforts.

"This has allowed Russia to operate undeterred and partially undetected.

"The substantial increase in vandalism is an indicator of the prevalence of the gig economy approach in action."

Whilst operating in Russian embassies, spies would have had access to secure communication networks and other sensitive intelligence that could help shape their plots.

Instead, they have been forced to shift to tactics favoured more by Chinese intelligence officers.

Researchers said there has been a "lull" in Russian-backed sabotage plots in the first half of 2025.

This could be because the Kremlin is worried about upsetting Donald Trump and "alienating a more conciliatory US administration".

The number of suspected plots surged in 2024, with 33 cases linked to Russian "hybrid-warfare activity", the IISS said.

This is up from 13 in 2022 and nine in 2023.

So far this year, 11 plots have been recorded by the IISS.

But researchers warned Russian spies could also be "regrouping networks, recalibrating tactics or avoiding detection" following a series of arrests and disruptions.

And the think-tank warned: "Russia's sabotage of ECI is central to its unconventional war on Europe and designed to weaken Western resilience and unity.

"It presents significant policy challenges to European governments. Russian doctrine intentionally blurs the lines between war and peace, making it challenging for European governments to detect and respond to such aggression.

"The response by NATO and EU has been to define Russia's unconventional war as operations in the grey zone, below the threshold of conventional war.

"However, the grey zone concept, while descriptive of hostile activity below the threshold of direct state-on-state conflict, has outlived its utility: it now too often serves as a bureaucratic shield, allowing governments to avoid decisive action and responsibility.

"Allowing the Kremlin to normalise sabotage as a tool of statecraft risks long-term strategic erosion and miscalculation that could drag Europe into deeper conflict."